Time for Action

My bike was stolen on Wednesday. I didn't feel particularly angry with the 'lanky curly haired' teenager who stole it. Nor the group of guys who watched it happen and kindly gave me such a useful description of the crime.

I hope my bike has made someone very happy. Helped them get to work in the morning.

What did surprise me was the emotional attachment that I placed on the bloody thing. "I've taken all my children to school on it" I heard myself tell the police when asked the make and model – "matt black" I quickly corrected myself.

In my mind this heap of steel and rubber was developing a personality of its own. It had been a trusted friend. No, more than that, it was part of our family.

I found myself getting irrational. They say that a Tory is a liberal who's been mugged. This wasn't theft. It was abduction.

That afternoon I was with Action for Children who told me about a five year old girl who turned up hungry to school every day. Her mum gave her money to buy crisps from the cafe but she was too scared to ask so she 'stole' sugar from the table instead. That was her breakfast.

I forgot about the bike.

The Smell of Fear. And Varnish.

We've just moved into a new office. The smell of fresh floor varnish is thick in the air which is doing nothing for my mental stability.

This psychological wobbling is compounded by the fact that Tim and I have to personally underwrite the value of the entire two year lease. I always thought that once you were a limited company you didn't have to worry about personal liability but it seems that neither landlords nor bank managers think that way...

Thankfully, we have retained the services of a Financial Director. This is a crap photo of her on the sofa (we haven't made it to Ikea to get her a desk yet).


Her name is Emma Jinks and she has a reassuring track record of working with several startups who have both avoided going bust (hurrah!) and made some money.

Emma was also the driving force behind the restoration of Art-Deco treasure Embassy Court in Brighton – where she lives and was relaxing happily until we turned up and made her feel sorry for us.

We count ourselves very lucky to have persuaded her to work with us part time. Now we just need some more clever people to fill up all this space...